Scientific workers boring opening deeply deeply into the crust of Earth report they revealed tunnel into hell. "It astonishes," says Professor Flexi Dzerkov, leader of project. "From the sounds emanating from the opening, which we through a powerful microphone selected and magnified there is no doubt we have penetrated infernal regions." The artificially loudened sounds resemble the moans of terror, of torture, and agony. But what makes it sure that hell is the source of sounds is that also audible is an infinitely repeated Muzak version of "Girl from Ipanema."

I first heard this UL more than 15 years ago. The drilling in Siberia supposedly took place in the late 1970s or early 1980s. It was said that the scientists doing the drilling lowered microphones into the deep hole once they hit a levels of 20,000 feet with temperatures exceeding 1800 degrees Fahrenheit.

First of all, why would they lower any microphones into the hole? What sounds did they hope to pick up? If these Russian scientists were atheists, and therefore did not believe in "hell," then they certainly did not anticipate hearing the wailing of the tormented souls of dead unrepentant sinners.

Nevertheless, this story was circulated by fundamentalist Christians--beginning with Paul Crouch on his TBN television show--for years before it was finally debunked.

. . . First of all, why would they lower any microphones into the hole? What sounds did they hope to pick up? . . .

As a w.a.g., might it be a variant of seismic echolocation in a search for oil? As I understand it, they'll detonate explosives, or otherwise induce vibrations into the earth, and spread out listening devices, to get a 3-D image of the geology of an area. Having a series of mikes at varying depth might enhance the accuracy or resolution of the image.

Or, y'know, it was renegade revanchist religionists hoping to topple the evil empire and return the land to the former rulership of the Tsar/Nobles/Priests in service to Christ, returning the masses to serfdom. Cool, huh?

As a w.a.g., might it be a variant of seismic echolocation in a search for oil? As I understand it, they'll detonate explosives, or otherwise induce vibrations into the earth, and spread out listening devices, to get a 3-D image of the geology of an area. Having a series of mikes at varying depth might enhance the accuracy or resolution of the image.

But this was not about drilling for oil or anything else. They just wanted to see how deep they could get.

The underground fire is still burning and will continue to do so for the indefinite future. There are no current plans to extinguish the fire, which is consuming an eight-mile seam containing enough coal to fuel it for 250 years.

But this was not about drilling for oil or anything else. They just wanted to see how deep they could get.

Here, too, I'm not completely sure of the technology, but I think it isn't *possible* to put microphones down into the very deepest of drill-holes. It's near miraculous that they can get the *drill* down that far; actually threading a mike and wire down that hole would be far more difficult.

Maybe it is possible; I dunno. But, wow... And, also, you're right: at that depth, there wouldn't likely be anything to hear!

Which in turn seems suspicions. Science is about knowledge, not about getting into the Guiness book of world records.

Science is also about exploration. Many apparently pointless things have been done in the name of scientific experiment which has led directly to some useful technology, and some which turned out to be utterly usesless. The benefits of digging the world's deepest hole may not just have been limited to getting a place in the record books, but may have had more useful spinoffs which they may or may not have been actively pursuing to improve drilling technology in general.

ETA: In other words, maybe they suspected there might be something worth having (oil or gas) that far down, and were testing the feasability of drilling that far. Would a different alloy composition in the bit be more reliable, does the speed of the bit make any difference, how do the (presumably given the distance) jointed pipes hold up at those depths, is there anything down there worth extracting? Is it economical now, may it be possible and economical in the future when the oil and gas reserves run very low? etc, etc.

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Which, in turn, is one of the greatest CO2-emission sources on earth that can be stopped, yet, for some idiotic reason, they insist on harassing the car owners that keep the economy going:

I'm not convinced that if it was that simple to control an underground coal seam fire as you and that article (partially) make out. If it was that easy, do you really think that the owners of the coalfields would sit by and watch each day hundreds or thousands of tonnes of coal that should have been theirs for the taking and turning into profit, burn away without taking action?

Which in turn seems suspicions. Science is about knowledge, not about getting into the Guiness book of world records.

It wasn't about getting into the Guinness Book of World Records either. As stated it was about seeing how deep you can bore and finding out what the crust of the Earth is like on those depths. Nothing strange at all.